Cyber security has become a top of mind issue for commercial organizations across the world. Most big corporations have strong disciplines and risk management procedures in place to ensure cyber resilience is tight. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for a typical home network.

Poor cyber hygiene at home is the gateway that enables cyber criminals to get personal. An open home Wi-Fi connection versus a password protected system could make all the difference if a bad actor attempts to hack a personal bank account or bitcoin wallet.

High net worth (HNW) individuals with deep pockets are particularly at risk of personal cyberattacks. Member-owned PURE Insurance, which serves HNW clients, has developed an innovative cyber fraud offering to protect PURE members from falling prey to cybercrime.

PURE Starling, available as an add-on to homeowners’ insurance, provides broad coverage for fraud and cybercrime, including financial loss resulting from online and offline fraud, and services to help assess and respond to cyber extortion threats, remove malware and reinstall software after an attack.

“The issue of cyber insurance was born out of feedback from our PURE members, who were starting to express concerns about data security and the privacy of their personal information,” explained Martin Hartley, chief operating officer, PURE.

As more of our cameras, speakers, thermostats and locks connect online, they’re increasingly open to meeting up with hackers.

Hackers have come up with new ways to break into your data — sending attacks through our appliances, locks, blinds and anything that connects to the internet. These are part of the so-called Internet of Things (IoT), and hacking attacks sent through these devices “became the preferred weapon of choice,” for starting denial of service attacks last year, says a new report from Arbor Networks, a security software company.

Kaspersky Lab has updated its investigation on the hacking of a home computer used by an NSA employee.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Kaspersky IT security company has announced that access to information on the home computer of the employee of the US National Security Agency (NSA) could have been obtained by an unknown number of hackers.

According to the Kaspersky Lab probe that is linked to media reports about the company’s software allegedly having been used to search and download classified information from the home computer of a NSA employee, the user’s computer was infected with Mokes backdoor, a malware that allows the hackers to obtain access to a device.

“The malware… was a full blown backdoor which may have allowed third parties access to the user’s machine,” the Kaspersky Lab has stated.

However, it is possible that Mokes was notthe only malwarethat infected the computer in question, the company said, adding that while Kaspersky software on the computer was enabled, it reported 121 alarms on different types of malware.

“The interesting thing about this malware is that it was available for purchase on Russian underground forums in 2011. Also noteworthy is that the command-and-control servers of this malware were registered to a (presumably) Chinese entity going by the name ‘Zhou Lou’ during the period of September to November 2014,” the statement explained.

Allegations Against Kaspersky Lab

The internal investigation by Kaspersky Lab was launched after The Wall Street Journal reported in October that a group of hackers allegedly working for the Russian officials had stolen classified data through the National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, which used antivirus software made by the Russian software producer.

Shortly later, the New York Times reported that Israeli intelligence services have hacked into the network of Kaspersky, and warned their US colleagues that the Russian governmentwas allegedly usingKaspersky software to gain access to computers around the world, including in several US government agencies.

Both reports came a month after the US Department of Homeland Security ordered state agencies and departments to stop using Kaspersky Lab software within the next 90 days, with the company’s CEO Eugene Kaspersky refuting all the allegations spread by the media regarding the Russian cybersecurity company’s involvement in spying on US users through its products and calling suchclaims groundless and paranoiac.

When commenting on the situation in an interview to Die Zeit newspaper, Eugene Kaspersky has, “There is a feeling that we just had been doing our job better than others, that we had been protecting our clients better than others … Probably, someone in the United States is very unhappy about it.”

Most recently, Wikileaks has revealed that the CIA had written a code to “impersonate” Russia-based Kaspersky Lab, which had been used at least three times.

First came “solicitor fraud”, where conmen intercepted emails between property buyers and conveyancers and diverted huge sums to the wrong accounts. Now this form of life-destroying crime has widened out to embrace other, big-ticket transactions, including home renovations and building work. The mechanism is the same: fraudsters impersonate one or…

A new, inconvenient and potentially costly ransomware threat is a good reminder of the security steps consumers can take to protect home computers and laptops. The Petya ransomware is affecting companies and government systems worldwide. As computer security experts work to ascertain the particulars of Petya, simple measures can help…

A complaint from a Westport resident that a suspicious man was looking in his windows led to the arrest of two Bridgeport men on charges of identity theft and fraudulently purchasing cellphones, police said. The case began at about 4:05 p.m. Tuesday with a complaint about the suspicious person from…

To Purchase This Product/Services, Go To The Store Link Above Or Go To http://www.become007.com/store/ Nickolas James Parnell, 27, lived in Boise when computers and DVDs with thousands of child pornography images were seized from his residence on two occasions in the past year, but he …

Just because the recent cyber attack is focusing on big corporations, tech companies say your home computer is just as prone to these attacks. “Without calling dooms day, this is the one that’s does make a large-scale impact,” Timothy Harris with Modern Technology in Cape Girardeau, Missouri said. Harris is talking about WannaCry Ransomware. It is the most recent hacking-attack …

Source: National Cyber Security – Produced By Gregory Evans Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog has warned about the dangers of home surveillance cameras if users fail to take basic security steps to protect their privacy. The cameras have become popular in recent years with consumers looking to keep an eye … The post Beware of hackers […]

Texas needs to ramp up spending on proven child-abuse prevention programs, child advocates and several lawmakers said Tuesday.
Sending “home visitors” such as nurses, teachers and social workers to work with disadvantaged pregnant women and high-risk young families can avert huge state costs, several speakers said at a “Home Visiting and Child Protection Day” rally at the Capitol.
The programs improve future graduation rates and avoid social ills such as incarceration, they said.

But the state is spending only about $70 million, including federal funds, on Home Visiting and Nurse-Family Partnership programs in the current two-year cycle, said Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio.